IEC is boosting standardization of fibre optic sensors by establishing a specific Working Group for maintenance and development of FOS standards

On the 75th IEC general meeting 2011 in Melbourne it was decided by the Technical Committee TC 86 Fibre Optics to boost the standardization of fibre optic sensors and to establish a specific Working Group SC 86C WG 2 for this subject. Main tasks of this WG will be the maintenance of already existing documents like IEC 61757 FIBRE "OPTIC SENSORS - Part 1: Generic specification" and the development of additional standards for specific applications like point wise and distributed strain and temperature measurements. A call for experts will be published soon by the IEC. People who are interested in participating in this standardization activity are welcome to contact the beyond mentioned contact person.

On the 75th IEC general meeting it was also decided to publish a revised version of IEC 61757 "FIBRE OPTIC SENSORS - Part 1: Generic specification" as a Final Draft International Standard FDIS. Further information can be found on the IEC Website ( http://www.iec.ch/ ) under Technical Committee SC 86C Fibre optic systems and active devices.

Recently the VDI/VDE Guideline 2660 Part 1 "Experimental stress analysis - Optical strain sensor based on fibre Bragg grating - Fundamentals, characteristics and sensor testing" was published (see http://www.vdi.eu/ or http://www.beuth.de/). The guideline defines the characteristics for the assessment of optical strain sensors (OSS) and describes testing procedures for them. With the guideline the manufacturer of optical strain sensors is given directions for their production and description, and the user a better understanding regarding the selection, application and operation of optical strain sensors. In addition the definitions in the guideline improve the feedback between the manufacturer and the user of optical strain sensors, since defined characteristics constitute a mutual, commonly understood basis for their communication. The guideline is aimed at manufacturers and users of optical strain sensors. Besides the production units, the provinces marketing and distribution are also addressed.